Remember when your kids were younger and they made you macaroni necklaces? Well, pasta crafts aren’t just limited to jewelry. This faux stained glass pasta craft is probably one of the coolest projects I’ve seen in a while.
Dying pasta with food coloring opens up a whole new world of craft projects, and making faux stained glass with pasta is the perfect way to let your kids create mini masterpieces that you can proudly display in your window. Plus, it appeals to all ages, and who doesn’t have extra pasta in the pantry?
Ready to get started on your own stained glass pasta work of art? Follow my simple step-by-step directions below.
Supplies:
- Flat lasagna pasta, uncooked
- Food coloring
- Rubbing alcohol
- Ziploc bags
- Clear contact paper
- Black puff paint
Directions:
Step 1: Start by breaking up the flat pasta into pieces of varying shapes and sizes.
Step 2: Put some of the pasta in a Ziploc bag. Add several drops of food coloring and a small amount of rubbing alcohol. The alcohol simply makes the dye spread around more easily, so only a little is necessary.
Step 3: Massage the bag gently until all of the pasta is colored, and dump onto a paper towel to dry for about one hour. Repeat with four to five colors of your kid’s choice.
Step 4: Lay out a piece of contact paper sticky side up. Use masking tape to secure it to a surface. This will keep it from moving around or curling.
Step 5: Let your kids place the dried, colored pasta around the sticky contact paper to create the look of stained glass. The contact paper will help keep the pasta in place. I used a matte contact paper here because I liked the frosted look, but glossy works just as well.
Step 6: Once finished, carefully lay another piece of contact paper on top, sticky side down to preserve the stained glass design. Note, pasta can still shift despite the contact paper holding it together, so handle with care!
Step 7: Finally, fill in the spaces between the pasta with black puffy paint. Alternatively, you can also use a permanent marker, but I found the paint replicates the look of stained glass best.
Let the paint dry completely before displaying. You can use tape to secure the faux stained glass to a window and watch the light shine around it, or simply hang it on the fridge.
